One thought on “The Aboriginal Industry Disrobed”

I have not read your book in entirety due to time constraints and my felt obligation to devote available reading time to non-fiction materials that may assist with my job. I did read most of the entries in this blog section: Aboriginal Industry Disrobed, after hearing of the contoversy arising from you being a guest speaker at the Alberta Teacher’s Association conference. I have been a practicing social worker for 22 years, most of those years devoted to working for Aboriginal people and serving in the respective roles of caseworker, supervisor, manager, senior manager and now, Senior Advisor Aboriginal Services. Today I read with great interest most of the entries in this blog under Aboriginal Industry Disrobed. I believe you are entitled to express the content attributed to you by reviewers of Aboriginal Industry Disrobed – I personally am not particularly fearful of your writing in this case, or the debate it has generated; although, I am somewhat concerned about the reaction that may come from impressionable people who may form anti-Aboriginal opinions as a result of their interpretation of what you have expressed. I remind myself it is a pluralistic society and peole are entitled to their opinions. My social work practice these days seems to be in contradiction to the hypothesisis you have put forward in your book. For example, on Wednesday evening I provided dance lessons to 11 Aboriginal children as this is one of my current activities. We began the lesson with prayer and a smudge ceremony and a traditional story was incorporated into the proceedings. I provide this dance activity in the hope that the children will form favorable impressions of their culture and realize that much like ballet, Irish dancing, Ukranian dancing, traditional Aboriginal dancing holds value and has much to be appreciated. Also, the ceremonial aspect and story provides moral guidance. I believe this may curtail these children being recruited to problematic behaviors and activities. Also, for those people who are part of my caseload, I go to great lengths to ensure they have access to Elders, traditional ceremonies and other traditional “ways of helping”. The reasons I have taken this approach to working with Aboriginal people is: 1) my own personal sense of fulfillment attained from reconnecting with the Aborigial culture and spriitual practices; 2)there being little, or no available evidence that over the past 22 years conventional methods including: psychological counselling, family court, family enhancement support and out of home care have reduced the number of Aboriginal children and youth requiring support from social services. There is a huge industry of non-Aboriginal people who deliver social supports including health, children’s services, education, and justice. Aboriginal staff form are a very low percentage of the overall staff compliment. When will Aboriginal staff be in a position to assist their own people given the current evidence that they are screened out of these institutions? These helping institutions use methodologies that have non-Aboriginal, scientific, Eurocentric origins. If the propositions set forth in The Aboriginal Industry Disrobed concerning how best to address Aboriginal needs were correct, should there not be a corresponding demonstration of healing and wellness in Aboriginal populations? I look foward to your response.